Virtually all the meforshim comment on the name change Moshe Rabbeinu implemented for his talmid Hoshea prior to sending him out on the mission to spy out the land. The pasuk says, “And Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun, Yehoshua” (Bamidbar 13:16). Rashi says, “He prayed for him: May Hashem save you from the plan of the meraglim.” The question is, if Moshe suspected that the meraglim were planning a conspiracy that might corrupt his faithful disciple, why did he not cancel the mission? Alternatively, why didn’t Moshe daven (pray) for the other meraglim? Furthermore, the Targum Yonosan ben Uziel interprets this pasuk as saying: “When Moshe saw the humility of Hoshea, he changed his name to Yehoshua.” The question is: What does Hoshea’s humility have to do with the fear of his being ensnared in the scheme of the meraglim?
Rabbeinu Yaakov Yosef (the one and only Chief Rabbi of the City of New York) gives a beautiful interpretation. There are two types of aveiros, “standard aveiros” and “subtle aveiros“. A standard aveira is when a person knows something is wrong, but he does it anyway. “I know I am not supposed to do this, but my Yetzer HaRah is too strong
